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Consumer Safety Officer

Department of Health and Human Services
Food and Drug Administration
FDA, Office of Regulatory Affairs, Office of Enforcement and Import Operations
This job announcement has closed

Summary

This position is located in the Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA), Office of Enforcement and Import Operations (OEIO), and is in a FDA Program Office. As an import or domestic investigator, the Consumer Safety Officer has demonstrated and is recognized for a high level of competence in the full range of commodities regulated within the boundaries of an FDA Program or in a narrow specialty within a program area.

Overview

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Hiring complete
Posted 06/04/19
Location
Many vacancies in the following locations:
Work site options
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Salary
$53,805 - $83,840 per year

The salary listed in the vacancy announcement is at the base level. The geographical locality pay will be determined at the time of selection.

Pay scale & grade
GS 11 - 12
Promotion potential
12
Pay scale and grade determines the salary of the job.
Work schedule
Full-Time
Travel Required
50% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Appointment type
Permanent
Occupations and job series
Supervisory status
No
Federal service type
This job is in the Competitive Service
Drug test
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Announcement number
FDA-ORA-19-MP-10512440-MK
Control number
535623600

Duties

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  • Performs analyses and evaluation on the most complex data samples and documented information gathered during inspections and investigations.
  • Conducts inspections and investigations (domestic and/international) of facilities.
  • Prepares final Establishment Inspection Report (EIR), investigations memoranda, and proposed or final endorsements for inspections, investigations, and filer audits conducted.
  • Interacts with and advises various levels of management officials representing the regulated industry, associations, state, local and foreign governments.
  • Serve as an instructor, training lower level investigators in the sophisticated inspection and investigation techniques.
  • Conduct re-inspections to follow up with non-compliant industry establishments on previously noted violations.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

  • Citizenship Requirement: You must be a U.S. Citizen to be considered for this advertisement unless explicitly stated otherwise.
  • Selective Service Registration: All applicants born male, on (or after) 12/31/1959, must be registered with the Selective Service System OR have an approved exemption. Visit www.SSS.gov for more info.
  • FDA participates in e-Verify: All new hires must complete the I-9 form; this information will be processed through e-Verify to determine your employment eligibility. If a discrepancy arises, you must take affirmative steps to resolve the matter.
  • Background Investigation Requirement: All employees must pass a security investigation. Failing to pass the background check may be grounds for removal or legal action. If hired, you may be subject to additional investigations at a later time.
  • Time-in-Grade Requirement: If you are applying as a current Federal employee, you must meet the time-in-grade requirements described in the Qualifications section, generally, 52-weeks of comparable experience at the next lowest grade.
  • You must meet ALL requirements by the closing date of this announcement to be considered. Only education, experience, and qualifications attained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements through the hiring process.
  • Certification of Accuracy: All information concerning eligibility and qualification is subject to investigation and verification. False representation may be grounds for non-consideration, non-selection, or appropriate legal action.
  • Direct Deposit: You will be required to have all federal salary payments electronically deposited into a bank account with a financial institution of your choice.
  • Additional selections may be made from this vacancy, within the same geographical area, by other organizational elements from within FDA, through shared corporate recruiting activities.
  • Applicants must have at least a fully successful or equivalent performance rating to receive further consideration for this position.
  • A probationary and/or trial period for initial Federal employment may be required.

Qualifications

The position of Consumer Safety Officer falls under the 0696 occupational series. To qualify for this position at grade GS-11/12, you must meet Time-in-Grade requirements by 11:59 pm EST on 06/18/2019.

In order to qualify for the GS-696-11/12, Consumer Safety Officer, you must meet the following:

Basic Requirements:
This position requires a degree or completion of specific courses in order to meet the basic education requirement. You must submit an official transcript, unofficial transcript, or a list including courses, grades earned, completion dates, and quarter and semester hours earned. Your transcript(s) must clearly demonstrate the course(s) listed in the Basic Qualification requirement section. If the transcript(s) does not clearly demonstrate this, you must submit a copy of the course description and/or other documentation demonstrating that the courses are equivalent. Degree requirements must be met by the closing date of this job announcement and your transcript(s) submitted must reflect this. If you are selected for the position, an official transcript sent directly from your educational institution will be required for verification prior to appointment. Current employees and anyone who has held this series/grade ARE NOT exempt from the transcript requirement and must still submit transcripts.

Applicants must have successfully completed one of the following (A or B):
A. A bachelor's or graduate/higher level degree in quality assurance or a related degree that included at least 30 semester hours in one or a combination of the following: consumer laws, biological sciences, food science, chemistry, pharmacy, physical sciences, food technology, nutrition, medical science, engineering, epidemiology, veterinary medical science, legal investigations, law enforcement, or related scientific fields that provided knowledge directly related to consumer safety officer work. The 30 semester hours may include up to 8 semester hours in statistics, or course work that included the principles, theory, or practical application of computers or computer programming. OR
B. Combination of education and experience--courses consisting of at least 30 semester hours in the fields of study described in paragraph A above, plus appropriate experience or additional education.

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: Experience directly related to the position to be filled which has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.

GS-11:

  • Applicants must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-09 in the federal service. Examples of specialized experience includes experience in recognizing violative imported products to prevent violative products from entering commerce; applying import related principles, practices and theories to conduct inspections and investigations related to the import program; preparing reports and investigative memos to support appropriate compliance actions or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recommendations; OR
  • Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; OR
  • 3 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree; OR
  • LL.M., if related; OR
  • Combination of the required experience and education for this grade level.
GS-12:
  • Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level, GS-11 in the Federal service. Examples of specialized experience includes experience in recognizing violative imported products to prevent violative products from entering commerce; applying import related principles, practices and theories to conduct inspections and complex investigations related
    to the import program; preparing reports and investigative memos to support appropriate compliance actions or Customs and
    Border Protection (CBP) recommendations; providing recommendations for improvement to ensure regulatory compliance is
    maintained; and delivering presentations to various audiences on scientific or technical data. Note: There is no education substitution for experience at the GS-12 grade level.
Time-in-Grade Requirement:(applies to current/former Federal employees)
GS-11: Applicants must have at least 52 weeks at the GS-9 or higher.
GS-12: Applicants must have at least 52 weeks at the GS-11 or higher.


In accordance with Office of Personnel Management policy, federal employees are assumed to have gained experience by performing duties and responsibilities appropriate for their official series and grade level as described in their position description. Experience that would not normally be part of the employee's position is creditable, however, when documented by satisfactory evidence, such as a signed memorandum from the employee's supervisor or an SF-50 or SF-52 documenting an official detail or other official assignment. The documentation must indicate whether the duties were performed full time or, if part time, the percentage of times the other duties were performed. It is expected that this documentation is included in the employee's official personnel record. In order to receive credit for experience in your resume that is not within the official series and grade level of your official position, you must provide a copy of the appropriate documentation of such experience as indicated above.

If you are applying based on some other qualifying eligibility (i.e. you are not applying as a current Federal employee), you must meet the specific requirements of the eligibility you are claiming, and must have sufficient past experience to demonstrate that you are minimally qualified for this position. See Unique Hiring Paths on USAJOBS for more information about various ways you may be eligible to apply!

PHS Commissioned Corps Officers interested in performing the duties of this position within the Commissioned Corps may apply online to this announcement. Candidates will be referred to (CC) personnel and not as candidates for conversion to a permanent career or career-conditional appointment.

NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. To verify your application is complete, log into your USAJOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the More Information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Qualifications are based on breadth/level of experience. In addition to describing duties performed, applicants must provide the exact dates of each period of employment (from MM/YY to MM/YY) and the number of hours worked per week if part time. As qualification determinations cannot be made when resumes do not include the required information, failure to provide this information may result in disqualification. Applicants are encouraged to use the USAJOBS Resume Builder to develop their federal resume.

You must submit supporting documentation to verify your eligibility to apply for this vacancy. For most applicants, an SF-50 will be required. However, if you are applying as a Veteran, individual with a qualifying disability, or a displaced employee, you will be required to provide other supporting documents as applicable. See the Required Documents section for details.
Be sure that any files you upload as supporting documentation are free of security or compression features which render such documents unreadable to our system.

Education

SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION: Substitution of education for specialized experience will be made in accordance with the OPM Operating Manual, Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions. Employees who are substituting education for experience must upload a copy of unofficial or official transcripts prior to the announcement closing. Selectees will be required to provide official transcripts upon selection. NOTE: One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school you attended has determined to represent one year of study. If this information cannot be obtained from your school, we will consider 18 semester/27 quarter hours to be equal to one year of full-time study. Experience and education as described above may be combined to meet the minimum qualification requirements. Experience and education should be computed as percentages of the overall requirements and must equal to 100 percent when combined.

Foreign Education:
If you are using education completed at foreign colleges or universities to meet the qualification requirements, you must show that the education credentials have been evaluated by a private organization that specializes in interpretation of foreign education programs and such education has been deemed equivalent to that gained in an accredited U.S. education program.
If you have transferred educational credit from a foreign institution to one in the U.S., you must still show that your foreign education was evaluated by an organization recognized by the Department of Education, even if that foreign education was accepted as transfer credit by a domestic college or university.
For more information about this requirement, please visit the U.S. Department of Education website for Foreign Education Evaluation.

SUBMITTING YOUR TRANSCRIPTS:
Positions which are scientific or technical in nature often have very specific educational requirements. A transcript is required to verify educational achievement. Pay careful attention to the Qualifications and Education sections to identify vacancies where a transcript is required. Even if you hold a similar position or are a current employee, you are not exempt from transcript requirements.
Electronic Transcript Caution: If you have obtained your transcripts electronically, the file might contain security measures that could prevent our application system from reading the file. Therefore, you should consider asking the institution to provide the file in a non-secured electronic format. Alternatively, you could scan or take a photo of the printed copy of the transcript. If your uploaded transcript cannot be read by our system, you may receive consideration and credit for the information we can access.
See the Application Manager Documentation for tips on submitting your paper-based documents.

Additional information

For some advertisements, the Food & Drug Administration receives hundreds, even thousands, of applications from job-seekers. Because of this high level of interest, FDA reserves the option of setting an application number limit.
When an application limit is set, USAJOBS will close the vacancy at 11:59 pm Eastern Time on either:
(A) the day the limit is reached, -OR-
(B) the pre-defined closing date of 06/18/2019, whichever comes first.
If the limit is reached before 11:59 pm ET, all applications in excess of the limit will continue to be accepted until 11:59 pm ET.
The application limit for this advertisement, if applicable, is: No limit
For more information about announcement closing, see: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/faq/job-announcement/expiration/

ADDITIONAL CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT:

  • Pre-employment physical required: No
  • Drug testing required: No
  • License required: Yes, Driver's License
  • Mobility agreement required: No
  • Immunization required: No
  • Bargaining Unit Position: Yes, NTEU or AFGE depending upon location
  • Incentives may be authorized; however, this is contingent upon funds availability. If authorized, certain incentives will require you to sign a service agreement to remain in the Federal government for a period of up to 3 years. Note: This statement does not imply nor guarantee an incentive will be offered and paid. Incentives include the following: moving expenses, recruitment or relocation incentive; student loan repayment, superior qualifications appointment, creditable service for annual leave for prior non-federal work experience or prior uniformed military service, etc.
  • If you are serving, or have served in the last 5 years (from 06/18/2019) as an Executive Branch political, Schedule C, or Non-career SES appointee, HHS/FDA may be required to obtain approval by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) prior to beginning employment. You can find out if you have held one of these appointment types by looking at your Standard Form 50s in your Electronic Official Personnel Folder (eOPF), in Section 5 where the legal authorities are listed. If you have served or are currently serving, you must provide a copy of your SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action, documenting this appointment. In addition, you will be required to respond to the question in the assessment and certify your responses to the questionnaire. Political Appointees FAQ - OPM
  • Special Appointing Authorities: If you are applying to this announcement based a special eligibility, such as those for people with disabilities, veterans (or military spouses), or displaced employees under a career transition program, please pay careful attention to the Required Documents section for details on application requirements for each eligibility path, to include supporting document requirements.
  • Financial disclosure statement, OGE-450, required: This position will be subject to FDA's prohibited financial interest regulation. If you are hired, you may be required to divest of certain financial interests. You are advised to seek additional information on this requirement from the hiring official before accepting any job offers.
All requirements must be met by the closing date of this announcement (06/18/2019); only education and experience gained by this date will be considered. You must continue to meet all requirements throughout the entire hiring process.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the job opportunity announcement closes (at 11:59 pm ET on 06/18/2019), a review of your resume and supporting documentation will be conducted, the information will be compared against your responses to the assessment questionnaire to determine your eligibility for Federal employment, and then whether you are qualified for this particular position.
If, after reviewing your resume and/or supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have inflated your responses when compared to your background information, you may be deemed ineligible, or your score may be adjusted to more accurately reflect your skills and abilities. Additionally, we will review your supporting documents and resume to determine if you are in the "Area of Consideration" for this vacancy. Government-Wide Merit Promotion vacancies may only accept applications from a limited audience, pay careful attention to the "Who May Apply" and the "Hiring Paths" information. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your eligibility.

Basis of Rating: Merit Promotion Procedures for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be used to rate and rank candidates. The category assignment is a measure of the degree in which your background matches the competencies required for this position. Qualified candidates will be ranked into one of two categories: Best Qualified or Qualified.

Your qualifications will be evaluated on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities and other characteristics). You need not respond to the KSA's separately, but your resume should contain sufficient information to demonstrate possession of these competencies.

  1. Research - Knowledge of the scientific principles, methods, and processes used to conduct a systematic and objective inquiry; including study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; and the reporting of results.
  2. Technical Competence - Uses knowledge that is acquired through formal training or extensive on-the-job experience to perform one's job; works with, understands, and evaluates technical information related to the job; advises others on technical issues.
  3. Writing - Recognizes or uses correct English grammar, punctuation, and spelling; communicates information (for example, facts, ideas, or messages) in a succinct and organized manner; produces written information, which may include technical material that is appropriate for the intended audience.
  4. Oral Communication -Expresses information to individuals or groups effectively, taking into account the audience and nature of the information (for example, technical, sensitive, controversial); makes clear and convincing oral presentations; listens to others, attends to nonverbal cues, and responds appropriately.
To preview the application questionnaire, click the link below.
https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/10512440

Food and Drug Administration

Become a part of the Department that touches the lives of every American.
At the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) you can give back to your community, state, and country, by making a difference in the lives of Americans everywhere! HHS is the principal agency for protecting the health of citizens. Join HHS and help to make our world healthier, safer, and better for all Americans.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Regulatory Affairs (ORA) is the lead office for all agency field activities. ORA inspects regulated products and manufacturers, conducts sample analyses of regulated products and reviews imported products offered for entry into the United States. In pursuit of its mission, ORA also works with its state, local, tribal, territorial and foreign counterparts.

Agency contact information

FDA Applicant Help Desk
Phone
888-478-4340
Email
quickquestions@fda.gov
Address
FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs
10903 New Hampshire Ave
Silver Spring, MD 20993
US

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